Playing Video Games for Money, Pt 1

I did that for a living, briefly.
After getting fired from WildStorm, I was given two months paid severance--which helped me a lot, as I had no idea what I'd do next. So I contacted pretty much everyone in my rolodex and... lo and behold, one of the WildStorm artists knew a guy.
Jo Chen, I still owe you big.
Activision was looking for quality assurance folks. These are the game jockeys who playtest games to destruction, seeing where and how they break. It's not for the squeamish, folks.
Anyway, Jo's friend got me an interview and I talked up how much I was a big video game fan, etc. etc., and they bought it-- I got a job, making $10/hour to play video games.
I moved from San Diego to Hollywood, setting up in a comfy apartment off Gower, and settled in to master the intricacies of being a professional video game player.
On my second day at work...
Just kidding.
In the next installment, I'll talk about what games I started on, how my promising career seemed to derail early on, and more.